On nonconvexity of the solution set of a system of linear interval equations (Q583321)

The solution set X of a system of linear interval equations \(A^ Ix=b^ I\) is known to be generally nonconvex (but is convex if X is entirely contained in a single orthant). In this paper, necessary and sufficient conditions for nonconvexity of X are given in terms of vertices of Conv X, which may be computed by a so-called sign accord algorithm [described in the author's paper: Systems of linear interval equations. Linear Algebra Appl. 126, 39-78 (1989)]. The condition is shown to take on an especially simple form if \(A^ I\) is thick (i.e., its radius matrix is positive). Further, it is proved that if the right hand side \(b^ I\) reduces to a single vector, then X cannot intersect two opposite orthants simultaneously.